Monthly Archives: February 2012

I wanted to have this done by last weekend, but blah blah excuse excuse. It’s not really important.

These two ideas use Fomar0153’sImproved Item Processing script that allows you to assign which items are in any Item Selection Processing event command screen, this flexibility allows you to use it for very specific purposes.

Now the obvious use is to clean up puzzles. Like when the player goes to open a door, you could limit the choices to keys/ keycards and/ or battering rams/ explosives, instead of all their Important Items.

Another wonderful use is to allow the player to select items that have various effects in the item menu or in battle and instead have them perform some kind of event. Like using a potion (that the player could normally heal party members with) on hurt villagers and it uses up the potions in the players inventory. Because it displays how many are in the players inventory quickly and easily, the player can make an informed decision without as much work on the programmers side.

Although good uses of this script these were not the ideas I was alluding to earlier, what I meant were these:

First, there’s the Pick Screen. This allows you to show items inside objects. Instead of the player just rummaging through barrels and bedside drawers and getting the useful item the player will be forced to decide which items they want to look at or interact with. It adds a little depth to the players activities. This can be used for puzzles or various other things (my mind wants to use this for a variety of comedic moments).

Then, there’s the Item Selection Menu. This is used for common events that you want the player to use in the field with a bit more flexibility. This allows the player to be able to quickly access maps or tools, instead of having to go into the Main Menu, go into the Item Menu, choose Important Items, then pick the item to run its common event. I like the Important Items section of the Item Menu, but I think it works best for displaying the item’s description and that’s about it. The Item Menu covers the screen, which covers up what the player is doing in the game. It just doesn’t seem natural to me. To achieve this I’ve decided to use Yanfly’sButton Common Events. By simply hitting the assigned key you can bring up the Item Selection Menu with all the applicable items, thus saving the player a lot of time and frustration. As an option I’ve included a way to assign keys to items, so the player can save more time and frustration by just hitting the key for the item instead of having to select it from a menu each time.

In the rough and tumble world of RPG Maker:

Division Heaven now has scripts. I was checking some out and I really liked the Quick Travel and Battleback Stretch.

Yanfly posts about LTP: Mathematics. Another fun Lunatic Package and the picture is great. Also posted was the JP Manager, which I really like. The best part is that it is separated from everything else making it much easier to work with.

Yami keeps updating her CTB. If you haven’t checked it out yet, you should. CTB has always been my preference for battle systems.

Molegato renames his comic Party Plz. This is a pretty funny comic and well drawn. Check out all of them.

Crimexx has started a new blog. He has been working on improving his Professions Event System. I’m always happy to see more eventers in this praise the scripters world.

Victor Sant lets us know that the Animated Battlers script he has been working on is almost ready for full publication. The video of it in action is almost enough to make me want to spend the hours I know it would take to fully utilize this (I’ve been trying to stay away from side-view because it always eats up all my time and nothing else ever gets done).

Fomar0153 has been really active lately. Three scripts have really caught my eye lately. Equipment Requirements will definitely have some uses for a lot of people. The Albhed Translator is really cool, me and my friends spent a lot of time translating Albhed in Final Fantasy X and this brought back a lot of good memories. The Clone Actor script is an interesting concept, I can’t think of any ideas for using this at the moment, but you never know, so I’m glad the option is available.

The above link takes you to the official announcement from RPG Web Blog. For those to lazy or having trouble getting it to load from their crappy internet or phone (usually my problem), it is March 15, 2012.

Preorders beginning March 1st with discounts. Start raiding those piggybanks.

So I had one of those sitcom weekends. My stepson’s dad (my wife’s ex) invited me and my wife to join him and my stepson to watch Star Wars Episode 1 in 3D on Sunday. We went and they also treated us to Olive Garden.

Star Wars was pretty good especially since I didn’t get to see it in the theater when it came out the first time. This was the first 3D movie I have seen because I have to where the glasses over my prescription lenses and I figured it would be to uncomfortable (and yes they still are), but I still really enjoyed it.

Here’s the coolest part though: when we were at dinner, my stepson’s dad gave me his X-Box 360, because he upgraded to a better model. I haven’t been able to afford one myself so this was really generous of him (read as f-ing awesome).

I bought myself a used copy of Final Fantasy XIII so I could finally play it. I hope it doesn’t suck cause I’ve heard mixed reviews.

So I’ve been working on a tutorial on various ways to use Fomar0153‘s Improved Item Processing script which he was so kind to make after I suggested the idea on my last post. The script itself is pretty straight forward so there’s no need to have a tutorial for the script itself, but I’ve devised a way to use it to make what I call a Pick Screen and an Item Selection Menu, the latter using Yanfly‘s Button Common Events script as well. There’s also a method for re-assigning the keys used to run common events.

The big problem I’ve had is that my first attempt got closed the day after I finished the first part and had started the second part. (Damn trial)

Last night I had everything remade and was beginning to make all the documentation. Usually when I’m writing up a tutorial I will notice problems and correct them, but since Windows decided to update I had to do all the image capturing and video recording before I went to bed and therefore, be unable to stop Windows from shutting down my computer. I was so tired that I forgot to save a copy of the project, for use later, when I get the full version of Ace (if its even possible to open trial projects).

I did get everything needed to make the tutorial, but it will take time to clean up the images and write the explanations. I hope to have it done by this weekend. Here’s the demonstration video that shows how these look in game.

Three posts that deserve a look:

Molegato made this really nifty Items Fragments script. I liked this a lot and combined with my Item Selection Menu it makes me want to make an old school zelda style game now.

Ramiro updated his Mother 3 Status script and now its more compatible. I’ve got to test this because I think it looks great.

And finally Kread-Ex makes an ammo script that, I admit, I didn’t think was necessary, but will probably use because it looks like it will work quite well.

So I finally finished my How to Make a Variable Window series. This comes in two parts and these tutorials show you how to combine eventing with scripts to create a window to display variables and various other information in a window that can be selected from the main menu this features a very specific example, but you can use the methods to make your very own and maybe save yourself the trouble of no one answering your script requests.

Part 2 – Choose an Area Info Window uses events along with the aforementioned Yanfly scripts along with Fomar0153’s More Choices script to have a series of sub-menus to display area info windows (or just about anything else if desired) from the main menu screen.

Doing this made me realize a script that I would like to see: the ability to choose which items (item by item) that can shown in certain Item Selection Processing windows. It wouldn’t be necessary in any way and would only be for the anal retentive, but I’ll admit that’s me.

I’ve also changed up the menu at the top of the blog to be a bit more helpful.

And I have to add some more links to the sidebar sooner than later, but I don’t have time tonight.

In the world of RPG Maker there have been a lot of posts since I posted last:

Mitchi has been putting out a lot of useful resources including: a transition pack with 25 unique transitions and a new battler

Noob keeps making laugh especially these two: Dedication and Inconsiderate. Before I could finish this post Noob released another great one that seems appropriate considering the subject of this post Tutorial Genius

Nessiah has been sick and her internet sucks, but she still made the guy from the VX cover art she has dubbed Syrn, the jerk boss

Yanfly discusses his feelings about making a demo. Please read before asking him to make one. This article also convinced me to not make demos of my Script Use Series because I think people will learn more if they have to type everything in themselves instead of copy and pasting into their projects I may change my mind if a lot of people are having problems, but only after I can get the full version of Ace (I wonder when that is coming out in English?)

Craze made another script Extra Enemy Actions. It is intended to be used with Yanfly’s Free Turn Battle System. Also the Elemental Booster script was updated.

I was making the point, that at the time it was released, it was awesome (I got it for Christmas the year it came out).

It was far superior to Dragon Warrior (Dragon Quest in Japan). In Dragon Warrior you only had one character and the battle interface was like the DBS in RPG Maker VX/ Ace. Final Fantasy was so cool because you had 4 characters from the get go that you also got to choose their class (which were pretty distinct from one another) and a really basic sideview battle system.

They both had extremely long and boring dungeons were every floor looked the same and an abundance of annoying random encounters. Also both gave you little to no help on were the hell you were suppose to go or what you were suppose to be doing.

But the thing is with Final Fantasy there were some pretty memorable moments. I still remember getting through the super hard ruined castle to fetch the Rat Tail (to this day I don’t know why there was a Rat Tail in a treasure chest) to get the upgrade for all your classes which was totally worth it. Also it was badass that the final boss was Garland (the first boss only upgraded) and Warmech was a brutal hidden boss too. That’s a lot to remember about a game I played over 20 years ago. I don’t remember much about Dragon Warrior except that they gave you a free copy with your Nintendo Power subscription (which was handy since my copy got destroyed in a fire).

But back to my original point. Over the years the bar has certainly been raised on RPG design. Compared to newer games a lot of the games I loved when I was a kid just plain suck. But their are some that are still just as fun because, even though they have graphics that make the RTP in RPG Maker look revolutionary in comparison, they have great stories, interesting characters, and some great gameplay mechanics.

Let’s take Final Fantasy VI (Final Fantasy III on SNES) for example because I’ve been playing it with my kids lately.

In the graphics department there isn’t any face sets in the message boxes (just the name of the speaker) and no wicked cool CG cut scenes, but where it shined was the character sprites. They blushed, laughed, panicked, sighed, threw the hands in the air, etc. and these expressions were done well enough that even my 6 year old daughter understood their meaning immediately.

When it comes to gameplay mechanics this game really loaded you with options. Every character had a unique abilty: Locke could steal, Sabin had an button input ability that was reminiscent of fighting games, Gau could emulate enemies, Celes’ Runic could absorb spells, Go-Go could copy the last attacks, and so on. The party was constantly being split into separate groups that you could switch between easily and it served a multitude of purposes like defending somebody from an army of bad guys and puzzles. They even split the group up so each group could achieve story goals simultaneously. There’s more, but this is getting long.

The characters. Man the characters were so good. Most NPC had their own problems that had nothing to do with the player characters. The Espers (the summons in this game) were even given distinct personalities that made me really appreciate the sacrifices they made. The player characters were varied on their depth, but they were never nameless nobodies. Oh yeah, and Kefka (the big bad guy) was nuts. Also some of the characters were hidden and getting them was completely optional.

The story had so many things going for it too. Depending who was in your party when you went to certain locations you could get little snippets of their past and sometimes this led to great items or abilities. If you are too slow in one part of the game one of your characters permanently dies. And the biggest story hook the bad guy wins and pretty much destroys the world as you know it and your left with most of the world a wasteland and that’s only halfway through the game.

This game was on SNES and should be the bar for a game made on RPG Maker. All of this stuff can be achieved with the Maker.

Final Fantasy I sucks not because it wasn’t made right at the time, its that they got so much better later on and its few good points became standard. The graphics aren’t a factor because Final Fantasy VI’s graphics are terrible compared to even PS1 games, but its still a hell of a good time.

But my overall point is this: now that we have played some amazing RPGs you can’t make a Final Fantasy I, you’ve got to make at least a Final Fantasy VI cause if I can play it 20 years later and still enjoy it, that’s a damn good game.

Here’s something fun for those who took the time to read that or just scrolled down.

This song is by the hilarious Your Favorite Martian. Warning:Some Crude Humor and Cartoon Violence.

Elsewhere in the World of RPG Maker:

noob keeps making hilarious comics about RPG Maker. These two about RTP haters make me sad because there really is asses who feel this way. Check them out: RTP Autoscore and RTP Hate.

Ramiro keeps updating the his RBS and I like that you can use a lot with the DBS like the Combo Window.

Yanfly posts about the Event Window which is damn useful especially in heavy treasure games.